CBCP stresses opposition to death penalty after Pinay's execution in Kuwait

MANILA, Philippines — The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines on Thursday underscored its opposition against the reimposition of the death penalty in the country after a Filipina domestic worker was executed in Kuwait.

On Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced that Jakatia Pawa was hanged in Kuwait along with six other prisoners in a mass execution.

Pawa was accused of killing her employer's daughter. The government had been negotiating the payment of blood money since she was sentenced in 2007.

Blood money, or diyah is financial compensation under Islamic law paid to the victim or to heirs of a victim in crimes like murder and for causing bodily injury or property damage.

An Egyptian forensic expert who investigated the case earlier said that Pawa's fingerprints were mot found at the crime scene and that the bloodstains found did not match with that of hers.

"The fact that [Jakatia] protested her innocence to the end of her life only underscores the abhorrence to the death penalty," CBCP president and Lingayen Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in a statement.

The CBCP expressed its condolences with the family of the executed Filipina.

"The sadness that we feel at Jakatia's death should make us all advocates against the death penalty," Villegas said.

Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that authorities used all efforts, including diplomatic means and appeals for compassion, to save her life.

"Execution, however, could no longer be forestalled under Kuwaiti laws. We pray for her and her bereaved family" Abella said in a statement.

On Nov. 29, 2016, the House of Representatives sub-committee on judicial reforms approved House Bill (HB) 1 which seeks to reimpose capital punishment.

HB 1 was principally authored by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas and Minority Leader Danilo Suarez.        

Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III meanwhile  said that the bill pushing for the implementation of the death penalty is not a Senate priority.